But a Grain of Sand
by Harpsflame
Summary: The adventures of a support group in a lousy clinic in a lousy town. Warning: this story goes over mental illness and disabilities and might be triggering for some people.
1. Chapter 1

so this is my first multi chapter paranatural fanfiction and I'm really excited! I really don't have that much experience with mental illness so all of the information in this from my research so if any of it is incorrect imma just apologize now.

the first chapter is rather short I'm kinda just testing the waters for this AU. hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Maxwell-"

"Max."

"Max. Could you tell me who PJ is?"

"He's a boy, maybe 8 or 10 I'm not sure, he wears pjs, but thats not why his name is PJ. He has really dark hair and kinda spooky eyes with dark bags and he's super pale. Why?"

"Well, you are aware why you were brought here yes?"

"Yeah, because PJ isn't real and i'm 'insane' or whatever right?"

"You're not insane Maxwell-"

"Max."

"-you suffer from Schizophrenia and quite a few people have it, about 24 million people worldwide!"

"But he's _real _i swear, he's a ghost okay, i know it's crazy but it's true. The other things i can understand they don't make any sense and th- they're terrifying sometimes. But PJ is real, he's creepy and a scaredy cat with self esteem problems, there is no way he's, there's no way he doesn't exist."

The woman smiled and ran her hand over the child's arm. "Oh Max, I know he seems real but he's just-"

"Shut up."

"He's a figment of your imagination-"

"Shut up."

"I'll help you get through this, I can make PJ go away-"

"No! You can't take him away from me like that," Max's yelling quickly fell to a whisper at the end, "you cant."

He curled into the white couch, he could feel himself shaking but he couldn't stop it, all he could focus on was the dead boy who he had grown so fond of. The woman sighed, sitting straighter in her chair and grabbed the seven year old's hand, rubbing it lightly to reassure the child. she gave a small sincere smile.

"Okay, so PJ can stay for now alright? So for now why don't we focus on getting rid of those scary monsters first?"


	2. Chapter 2

oh god this took so long I'm so sorry! I had some extreme writers block and with AP testing and the fires and league for swim my story was pushed to the side for a while but its done and rather long-ish so please enjoy!

warning for chapter: talk of disablilties, teeny tiny bit of language and talk of character death nothing major though

* * *

Five year.

Max had been in the stupid program for five whole year and hadn't had any real success. He had been moved from therapist to therapist but none of them had helped, and the visits went from once a month to twice a week.

Three years ago his father to uproot their family and move to his, and his wife's, home town. It wasn't too big of a deal, but Max had been around ten so he had been pretty damn upset. But Zoey was too young to care, and half of the kids being cool with it was good enough for his dad.

After being moved to the town it came to Max's attention that Mayview's therapy system was a little off. For starters they only had one real clinic and it involved both physical and mental therapy. Second off Max was almost certain none of the people there were properly trained, but maybe he was just picky. He also realised that even if they were properly trained, they weren't exactly prepared to cater to his very special needs.  
It was rather obvious that his schizophrenia was something of a special case. He was told that it was more audio than visual, but he saw the apparitions more than he heard them. Sometimes he couldn't identify them from real people, and that was what scared the rather unprepared clinic.

The idea of him being transferred to a mental hospital had come up a lot but his dad had adamantly refused. He didn't like the idea of his son being so far away and his illness hadn't really been severe enough to justify more than just a few overnight stays here and there. Since they didn't seem to care about the norm, it didn't really surprise Max when they would bring up the idea. But really as long as the "crazies" were kept to a minimum none of the officials gave a damn about the procedures used or how unorthodox they were.  
And neither did Max. But he'd be lying if he said they asylum didn't terrify him.

Max sat in the blue wallpapered lobby, eyes fluttering across the familiar posters of kittens on branches and beach scenes. To his left his dad and little sister Zoey were quietly, by their standards, playing slide. To his right PJ hovered above the seat, Lefty resting on his head.

PJ looked around nervously before turning to Max, his eyes impossibly large and blank.

" , do you know what's going to happen today?"

Max shrugged lightly in response, trying to be inconspicuous so as not to freak anyone out by 'talking to himself'.

"The latest therapist was a bust so they said they would try something new this time." He paused in thought, "last time they said that i ended up with ."

The two shivered at the memory, his style of healing didn't exactly connect with Max. That, and max's fist might have connected with his face after the fifth session but that's not important.

A man burst through the door, panting heavily and sweatier than a pig, he grabbed everyone's attention easily. He was a rather average man, average height, hair a rather dull blond, average office clothes (white puffy shirt and brown slacks how original). Not to say he was unattractive, he was quite handsome actually, just not in an eye-catching kind of why. The man's only really notable feature were his ugly sunglasses, which he wore inside Max noted as the man jogged to the receptionist desk.

"You're late Rick." The brunette scolded from behind her desk.

"Sorry Ms. _Baxter_." The man said her name in a teasing tone, making the woman scowl, though it was obviously fake, as she was soon smiling again at the man.

_Wierd,_ Max thought, _ is usually snappish with people who're late, maybe they are…_

Max shook his head and looked over at his family, to see them both looking over at the man in confusion, hands still held up in a double high five. Max laughed lightly at them and the two look over at him in surprise. He coughed to cover up his laugh and gazed back over at the strange man.

He was talking in hushed tones with Ms. B. The woman looked over at Max and gestured from him to come over.

Max first glanced at his family, to see them already standing and looking back and him expectantly, then over at PJ and Lefty. PJ grinned, which looked more painful than reassuring, but it's the thought that counts.

He stood and caught Zoey's concerned look, but he ignored it. He made his way to the desk and kept his gaze on Ms. Baxter, refusing to acknowledge the man until he had to.

"Yes Ms. Baxter?" He asked flatly, hands in his pockets. Ms. Baxter met his blank stare with a small smile, which caught Max off guard.

Ms. Baxter hadn't smiled at him in almost two years, not since he almost hit her over the head with his bat. It had been an accident, alright? Max had been trying to save her from a red stringy creature that was about to bite her head off. But she just had to go with the whole psychotic rampage attempted homicide bit. Max ended up having to stay in the mental hospital for 72 hours but they released him because he was stable.  
Well, stable enough for Mayview, which was just a notch below homicidal, but at least his dad didn't try to sue or anything. Not that he could but damn would he try.

"Well, Maxwell-"

"Max." Her smile tightened slightly and max's smile widened in response. Thankfully she didn't scream at him about respect, so that was a good sign. _Huh, sunglasses must be quite the catch if she's being this.. nice._

"Max, this is , leader of your new support group."

"Now Barbra, It's not a support group per say, It's more of a club for little baby loonies." Ms Baxter looked taken aback by the man's words, mouth hanging open in slight horror.  
"Thanks." Max muttered under his breath. must have heard him because he started to panic and flail.  
"Oh no, sorry, oh man. I meant, ah, well um. It was a joke- I didn't mean to offend oh gosh." He continued to apologize and Max felt a little bit of pity bubble up.  
"Nah man its fine." Max waved his hand in the air as if to shoo away the man's comment. The blond man smiled at Max before his eyes moved to his family.

"Puckett?"

Suddenly the blond man and Max's dad were yalling excitedly at each other.

Hugging.

They were also hugging.

"Wait, you're a father?" Max made out at the two pulled apart.

"Yeah, this is my daughter Zoey and son Max, they're nine and twelve respectively." His dad laughed and did too. Max scowled, they were far too loud and happy in his book. He was just about to interrupt but beat him to it.

"So hows your high school sweetheart? i haven't seen her since the wedding, since you two up and left only a few days after. Why was that, trying to escape me huh?" As he laughed Max's dad's eyes cut to him for a second, his eyes giving a kind of warning. Max's frown deepened in response and he opened his mouth to address the blond man.

"She's dead." Max said firmly, cutting off his dad before he could respond. His father turned to Max and forced a smile at him, taking Zoey by the hand.

"We have to Max, I hope we can catch up late Rick, it was nice to see you." He said shortly, Max nodded and the two were out the door quick as lightning.

looked panic stricken and flustered. "I-I'm so sorry, I- I didn't know. Oh gosh this is a terrible first impression." Max opened his mouth but was cut off by Ms. Baxter, who had been watching the exchange in silence.

"I think you two should go now, you've disturbed the peace enough." Her voice was serious but not mean, like a mother scolding her children. Max looked around at the people in the waiting, their blank or disapproving stares making him uncomfortable.

They were all so serious, except for Jeff, a mentally and physically disabled boy. He was in a car crash a few years back and came to the clinic for physical therapy a few times a month. He would randomly burst into fits of giggles as his companion Cody tried to quiet him. Max smiled at the two whom he had made friends with early in his first year attending the clinic.

pulled him out of his musings with a question. "Ready to meet the other kids?"

Max looked back at as he was lead down a hall with purple wallpaper. She was talking to a girl named Susie and was smiling. Beside him PJ floated along, eyes wide as ever, smiling in an almost comforting fashion.

"Yeah, alright."


End file.
